Even my close friends are generally unaware of this particular chapter in my life, but in comparison with other more tawdry parts of the tale, it does carry some rather unique interest. The time was the fall of 1969; the place was southern Colorado; and I was working as a reporter for the
Trinidad Tribune.
No kidding; I was once a journalist!
It was (while it lasted) an exciting and important time in my life, covering stories on the anti-war movement, the first draft lottery, music, and reactions to the summer's most newsworthy events - the Apollo moon landing and the Chappaquiddick tragedy.
For a young man who had wasted much of the early lead given him by parents, teachers and coaches, squandering it away in rebellious acts involving drink, debauchery and other decadence, this post on the
Tribune represented a new hope that I could yet redeem myself and begin anew as a productive member of society.
It didn't happen.
You see, the aforementioned
Trinidad Tribune was just a student newspaper, the twice-weekly publication of Trinidad State Junior College, a school located in a small, poverty-stricken mining town south of Denver some 250 miles. That was a pretty tough distance when you were hitchhiking it back and forth every weekend.
I had enrolled in September after returning from California (that trip certainly hadn't worked out like I hoped -- insert long, sad story here) but I liked the place. And, though landing a gig on the school newspaper may not seem a big deal to some, it represented a new, very interesting and worthwhile chance for me. It was, in fact, a terrific way to start a comeback and the school seemed more than ready to reward even the tiniest investment of diligence.
But again, that didn't happen. Because even a tiny investment ended up to be more than I could come up with.
So there in Trinidad, with seemingly no place to go but up, and with people available to help me with the climb, I still hurtled downward. Unable to put the brakes on my baser passions, I quickly grew restless again. And within weeks of receiving this brand new chance at making something out of my life, I had quit school and taken off.
In the weeks and months to come, I seemed to throw reason itself away (along with responsibility and self-respect), creating fresh disappointments for my family and plumbing new depths in a dangerously immoral lifestyle. In Alamosa, Colorado: then Pine Bluff, Arkansas; then San Francisco, California; and finally back in Denver, the young reporter-that-might-have-been retreated from real world events and deeper into the "purple haze" of his own delusions.
Logically, it was somewhere about there there that my story
should have ended. A thrust of a knife in a fight outside a bar; a car careening over the side of Lookout Mountain after a night of innumerable Schlitz malt liquors; maybe even a pistol shot from a wronged lover - these would certainly have been the most plausible endings for a young thug's career. Anything else would seem too contrived, too escapist. Salvation from such a tragic farce would have required a
deus ex machina that Euripdes himself might have thought too far out.
However, the stories which seem so predictable from the easy chairs of earth-bound critics, appear very, very different, when viewed from heaven. And the lives of even the most despicable and weak characters can be instantly, completely, and eternally transformed when the power of the original Author takes a hand!
No, it was not a "machine of the gods" cranked down from the rafters which provided the soteriological climax to this story. It was something more majestic and profound than human genius could ever create. For genuine salvation -- and that was what I found in the gospel message shared with me by caring Christians the following spring -- comes from but one source: the cross on which Jesus gave His life for such wandering, woeful sinners as me.
Think of it! Every ruined story, every tragic tale, every account of sadness and sin and hopelessness can be changed by the nail-scarred hands of the Lord Jesus. No mere editing of one's story will suffice; it must be changed and changed forever into a "miracle play" written by the love of God.
So here I am, just shy of four decades since my budding career as a journalist died (by own own hand) an ignominious death. That's too bad.
But, by Christ's mercy, there was another career waiting in the wings. One that proved to be even more adventurous and useful. One that proved even the most unexpected comebacks can, in fact, occur. And one that will take me into the very splendors of heaven. Thank You, Lord.
He's an Unjust, Oppressive, Murdering Dictator. But, Aw Shucks, the Liberal Media Just Love the Guy!
Theodore Dalrymple, writes in Front Page Magazine:
As the New York Yankees go, so goes America's economy.
He also urges pro-life groups and individual pro-life lawyers to get their copy of American United for Life's latest edition of Defending Life 2009: Proven Strategies for a Pro-Life America. This publication is absolutely invaluable in not only fighting back against FOCA and Team Obama's full court press for abortion rights but also in developing proactive measures to better defend the sanctity of life.
* "The First Hundred Days: FDR He is Not" by Donald Lambro.
Ron Rizzo, a high school classmate, recently sent over the text of a compelling article written by Debbie Reslock and published in the Denver Post. In it she reflects on the tragic loss of human connectedness, but then encourages us that an alert, humane, and responsible lifestyle need not be a thing of the past. Indeed, it's as close as our next door neighbor. Give it a read.
Ralph and Linda Aldrich sent over this timely quotation from the late Southern Baptist pastor and preacher, Dr. Adrian Rogers.
It's been several weeks since Tom Beatty, our old pal who is now ministering as a jail chaplain back in Illinois, sent me this link to Penny Postcards. It's a delightful site, not only for historians but for anyone with a bit of curiosity about what familiar scenes from their lives used to look like.
The Villainy of Planned Parenthood Caught On Film (Again!)
That latest sting operation showing yet another instance of Planned Parenthood's complicity in covering up underage sex abuse? It got front page coverage on the LA Times. And though the reporters sure try hard to minimize the damage, the salient issues still blaze through.
An unfertilized ovum will remain, only an ovum (just like any other cell in our body) until it dies. However, if it is fertilized (which occurs at conception) a new life-force enters the cell; which immediately lays the framework for the entire life of a completely new human being. Furthermore, this life-force initiates, directs and sustains a process that transforms that being from a single cell embryo to a full grown human being with 10 trillion cells; brain with memory capacity equal to 20,000 computers; and abilities to love, forgive, create, perform and think. This life-force, therefore, is not just the life of that cell, but the life of the entire humanity of that being. It is the human life of that being. Since this life entered our being at conception, we became a human person at conception; and human embryos and fetuses are human persons.
Fresh from the "Team Obama, You Gotta' Be Kidding Me" Department (which, by the way, has just filled its first filing cabinet) comes this report sent in by WCBS.
Barack Obama's nominee for "regulatory czar" has advocated a "Fairness Doctrine" for the Internet that would require opposing opinions be linked and also has suggested angry e-mails should be prevented from being sent by technology that would require a 24-hour cooling off period.
Evaluating Barack Obama's first 100 days? The MSM has jumped all over this. Indeed, they've been doing it for a couple of weeks already. And, hardly a surprise, they've decided he is not only the best president the country's ever had but probably the best national leader ever. Well, at least, since Moses.
Our teleprompter-addicted Chief Exec suffers a ridiculous moment here.
Among the very elite of our era's "supermodels" is Kathy Ireland. Below are some of her comments on abortion, fetal development, a woman's responsibility, etc. as recently given to FOX News in an interview about her new book, Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide to Success and Sanity. 
Ireland also asserted that she believes "no justification is adequate" (for an abortion) unless another the mother's life is in danger. "In that instant, your intention is not to kill but to save the life of another. If we’re about to demolish a building we make absolute certain there are no human beings in there before we take a wrecking ball to it, but the unborn doesn’t have a voice so it's up to us to speak for them," she added passionately. "If I see someone abusing a child I am going to stand up against that, and that’s how I feel about abortion. Women are not given all the facts, they’re told it is a harmless procedure and now it has turned into such a political football."
Greg Schleppenbach from the Nebraska Catholic Conference writes to correct a passage in a Vital Signs post from last week. In the post "Have You Signed the Petition Yet?", I wrote of the Nebraska Coalition for Ethical Research petition, "It's a very important statement, one that quite realistically could make the difference between UNMC creating human embryos for destruction (in the vaunted name of science) or convincing the University Regents that Nebraskans so strongly oppose such immoral and counter-productive policies that they will go no further than the limitations set by the Bush administration."
Everyone knows President Barack Obama can deliver a great speech, including the president himself, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax -- and it's a great big one."
The raucous chorus of liberal voices would have us believe that AIDS is running rampant in Africa because too many Africans are enslaved by the Catholic Church's pronouncements against the use of condoms.
I haven't mentioned the We Get It campaign since last summer but since they're still in there swinging against the global warming extremists that look to further socialize government, make living more expensive, and enact policies which will be brutal on the world's poor, I want to again draw your attention to their important work.
Even my close friends are generally unaware of this particular chapter in my life, but in comparison with other more tawdry parts of the tale, it does carry some rather unique interest. The time was the fall of 1969; the place was southern Colorado; and I was working as a reporter for the Trinidad Tribune.
Have You Signed the Petition Yet?
Yesterday afternoon Claire and I took a few minutes to look through the names who have signed the Nebraska Coalition for Life petition that I've promoted here on Vital Signs Blog, first with "Fight Back Against Bad Science. Fight Back Against Obama's ESCR Policies" on March 11 and then with added vigor a couple of days ago, "NU Regents Balk at ESCR Decision. It's Time for Us To Make Our Move."
It seems that the Great Orator isn't always that sizzling. Larry Summers, Team Obama's top economic advisor, just can't help himself from dropping off during yesterday's meeting with leaders of credit card companies.
Gangs of men punching people on the street at random. Street fights where bystanders sometimes cheer, and where those who try to intervene sometimes get beaten themselves.
Egypt's Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammed Hamdi Zaqzouq urges Muslims to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (by the hundreds of thousands) to demonstrate that it is a Muslim city and the future capital of a Palestinian state.
Hmm. Maybe Obama's idea about prosecuting Bush administration legal advisors on the "torture" issue wasn't the winner he thought it would be. Sure, the MSM will do everything it can to help get him through this mess but he's opened a real can of worms here.
Poland's equality minister, Elzbieta Radziszewska, wants to expand a Polish law prohibiting the production of fascist and totalitarian propaganda so that it includes clothing and anything else that could carry an image related to an authoritarian system..
Despite her inexperience, her hypocrisy, her inappropriate financial relationship with an abortionist, and her lies to lawmakers about the money she has received from said abortionist, Kathleen Sebelius appears poised to become our nation's Secretary of Health and Human Services.